70 Blanchard Rd.
Burlington, MA 01803
1.877.245.6228
Globat.com was founded in 2001. Globat is one of the older and more established web hosting companies online, and they offer shared web hosting, business class hosting, Exchange services, Secure Servers and domain names. Globat hosts more than 100,000 websites and uses two data centers in Boston, MA.
Review
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Sales
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Globat takes sales questions by live chat, telephone and through an online form. I got in touch with Globat using all three methods on numerous occasions. Wait times averaged twenty minutes using live chat and phone, and several hours to several days by way of email. Sales reps were extremely friendly and intelligent, easily answering my many questions.
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Setup
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Signing up for a Globat account is no more difficult than filling out an online order form. Account activation is instant, so I had my new account details in my inbox within seconds of paying my hosting bill. Perfect!
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Billing
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Globat takes all major credit cards and PayPal. Though I had no actual trouble with the billing department, I feel that I averted potential disaster a few times. Globat extends incentives for upgrades to clients multiple times a year that must be opted out of manually. Should you not opt-out, you are automatically upgraded to a new plan or feature, and your credit card is billed without your consent. Account cancellation must also be performed manually from the client-side.
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Pricing
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Globat has two shared hosting plans available, the smallest of which gives users unlimited space and bandwidth for $4.44/month when paid annually. Globat’s prices are not only reasonable, but downright cheap. It should be noted that that is an introductory price and good only for the first year of service. Account renewal prices are nearly double the introductory rates.
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Reliability
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My hosting server was 100% reliable over a one year period.
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Help & Support
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Globat offers 24/7 support by trouble ticket system, live chat and telephone. Tech support is helpful and polite, though service is sometimes slow. During an unexpected period of downtime, it took Globat three days to respond to my trouble ticket. Phone wait times can be long and often clients are directed to submit a trouble ticket for even small issues that could easily be resolved over the phone.
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Uptime
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My uptime monitor showed that Globat maintained a 99.91% uptime rating over a one year stay.
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Guarantee
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99.9% uptime guarantee.
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30 day money back guarantee.
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Terms of Service
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The Terms of Service for Globat are online. Highlights include:
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Early account cancellations will incur a minimum $35 fee.
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Client responsible for manually backing up data.
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No excessive CPU usage allowed.
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Spamming forbidden.
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Bottom Line
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Advantages
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Free domain with all shared hosting plans.
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Free toll-free number with all shared hosting plans.
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Tech support friendly and helpful.
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Inexpensive.
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Disadvantages
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Must pay for shared hosting at least one year in advance.
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Sales and support wait times can be long.
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Server speed on the slow side.
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Must frequently opt-out of new offers or you are automatically upgraded and billed.
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